Research and Experimentation Tax Credit
In: Economic Issues, Problems and Perspectives
Intro -- RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION TAX CREDIT -- RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION TAX CREDIT -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- Chapter 1 RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION TAX CREDIT: CURRENT STATUS AND SELECTED ISSUES FOR CONGRESS* -- Summary -- Introduction -- Design of the Current R&E Tax Credit -- Qualified Research Expenditures -- Regular Research Credit -- Calculation: Regular Research Tax Credit -- Alternative Incremental Research Credit -- Calculation: Regular Research Tax Credit -- Alternative Simplified Credit -- Basic Research Credit -- Energy Research Credit -- Option to Claim a Refundable Research Tax Credit in Lieu of Bonus Depreciation in 2008 and 2009 -- Legislative History of the Research Tax Credit -- Effectiveness of the Research Tax Credit -- Policy Issues Raised by the Current Research Tax Credit -- Lack of Permanence -- Weak and Uneven Incentive Effects -- Uneven Incentive Effect -- Weak or Inadequate Incentive Effect -- Current R&D Tax Incentives are Inadequate -- Significant Gap Between the Credit's Average Effective Rate and Its Statutory Rate -- Non-Refundable Status -- Unsettled and Ambiguous Definition of Qualified Research -- Lack of Focus on R&D Projects with Relatively Large Social Returns -- Legislation in the 111th Congress to Modify and Extend the Research Tax Credit -- Other Significant Perspectives on the Future of the Credit -- End Notes -- Chapter 2 TAX POLICY: THE RESEARCH TAX CREDIT'S DESIGN AND ADMINISTRATION CAN BE IMPROVED* -- Why GAO Did this Study -- What GAO Recommends -- What GAO Found -- Abbreviations -- Background -- History and Overview of Credits for Different Types of Research -- How the Research Credit Is Targeted -- Qualified Research Expenses -- The Rationale behind an Incremental Design for the Credit -- Computation of the Research Credit -- Restrictions on the Credit's Use -- Group Aggregation Rules